Urban Safari #2

So today I wanted to recreate something that I learnt from Unit X last year, and go on an Urban Safari! Which is basically going around Manchester and using my camera to log everything that I saw that inspired me or interested me. Today I really wanted to concentrate on colour as this was something that was highlighted in my tutorial, so to end the day with a colour theme would be an achievement. Here are a few of the images that I have taken throughout the day.

I tried to take on board what Alex had said to me about ornate architecture, but when I was out I felt drawn to the more industrial side of the city rather than the ornate. The colours int he images are great as well I think that I could create some great drawings and eventually a great collection using this selection of colours.

Back to Uni

So it has been the first week back to uni and it is all systems go. We have been given five different briefs to choose from - Mobile Habitats, Visions of Sound, Future Past, Tomorrow Culture and Urban Influences. I have read through all of the briefs and have narrowed it down to two. Mobile Habitats and Urban Influences. I feel that out of them all the Urban Influences brief would be best suited to me as it would link well with the imagery and research I have gathered over the summer, also the CP2 choice that I chose before summer intergrates well into this subject also as I chose 'Space, Design and Architecture'.

I feel that the Urban Influences brief is definitely more suited to my style of work and I will now begin to go out into Manchester and collect primary research. I will use this research to begin my initial drawings.

Andrew Brooks, Photographer

Today we had a lecture with Andrew Brooks, who is a well established photographer who is originally from Manchester. He takes a lot of his photographs in and around Manchester, which immediately related to Unit X. Personally I was hoping for more of a fashion based photographer as that relates more to what my group are doing, however I still took the time to appreciate his work. I particularly enjoyed his 'Hidden Manchester' images in which he had teamed up with producer and curator Andy Brydon. This collaboration works well as Brydon does the research and writing and Brooks does the recording and photography. This is would have been quite similar to our project if our film students had turned up.

What interested me most about his work is that he said it can take him unto a month to create one shot from around 20/30 shots. He puts all of these images together on photoshop, these images can come from anywhere but he always has his final shot in mind. Andrew also adds himself into each one of his shots where possible. Although I feel his work has not related very well to what I am doing I still appreciated his work and learnt a lot about photography.

Zero-Waste Pattern Cutting - Fiona Mills

Today we had quite an interesting lecture about sustainable fashion. Basically the concept of zero waste fashion is to use the full yield of the fabric provided and to not let anything hit the cutting room floor.

There is at least 15-20% fabric waste within fashion construction, this wasted fabric goes into landfills, does not breakdown and therefore becomes toxic to the environment. I did not know this and it came as quite a shock. The yield of a fabric in a lay plan is obviously very important to companies in the lower market, who want to get more garments made from their fabric as possible. Fiona showed us many different researchers who had looked into zero waste fashion in a lot of depth.

Most of the designers that Fiona showed to us today were mainly researchers and did not actually sell any of their designs. Some of their designs I would personally not buy, however I love the concept and think it is extremely interesting. These designers entered a competition called YIELD. A particular design which I loved was by Timo Rissanen, who produced a jacket which just seems genius.

Research Safari..

When I first heard that a 'research safari' had been organised I was quite hesitant to par-take.. exercise is not my strong point! However, a group of around 20 of us from unit x, and Susan the tutor set off around Manchester to learn more about the history behind manchester and also to discover fabric shops that we did not know about.

Firstly we started off around the Northern Quarter and the Ancoats, I am not really that familiar with this part of the city as it can be quite out the way from the centre. The Ancoats was really pretty in some areas, keeping Manchester's artistic vibe but with a lot more character. A lot of people of italian decent used to live in the Ancoats along side a lot of the fabric mills and factories, they opened a lot of ice cream parlours, making the Ancoats now my favourite part of manchester!

In the top left image there is a spy hole peeping into one of the abandoned factories in the area, which I though was really interesting, although this image isnt a very good one.. It still has all of the old machinery in there and is currently under construction. It is sad to see all of these historical places being put to different uses now that the country has no need for many British manufacturers. Also all of the streets are named things to do with the industry such as Cotton and Loom street which I thought was quite sweet.

We also took a walk through parts of the city centre, passing through Victoria Railway Station and Cheetham Hill. Susan lead us to the part of the city that holds a lot of textile retailers, one of which we were allowed to visit and take a look around, Central Trimmings. They had so many different trimmings, fabrics and fastenings, floor to ceiling! Now this district is full of mainly wholesalers which is not good news for us students however if we all chipped in the owner said we would be more than welcome to return. 

I feel that this trip was quite useful in the sense that I learnt a lot about Manchester that I would not have learnt otherwise. Also it broadened my knowledge of the textile retailers available in Manchester as I did not know of many. However I do not feel that this activity related to the actual project 'Unit X' itself.